East Carolina University
Day 2
Track & Field Improves at Florida Relays, High Point
April 05, 2015 | Track & Field
VertKlasse Meeting Results 
| Florida Relays Results
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The East Carolina track and field squad continued to show steady improvement throughout the outdoor season with a pair of strong outings over the weekend at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., and the VertKlasse Meeting, hosted by High Point.
The Pirates' split squads combined for one event victory and nine times/marks that rank in the top 10 in ECU program history.
"It was a very successful weekend at both meets," Head coach Curt Kraft said. "Before the weekend started, our coaching staff felt very good about the anticipated outcome. Both squads experienced a little of everything. We had some huge improvements, a few medium improvements and a couple of small improvements. But the overall theme of the weekend was: Improvement."
At the VertKlasse Meeting in High Point, N.C., the Pirates came away with an event win in the field as freshman Galissia Cause won the shot put with a career-best mark of 14.75-meters (48' 4.75"). In addition to winning the event, Cause's mark also ranks her second all-time at East Carolina.
Coming in behind Cause in the shot put were teammates Mohogany Baker (13.09m), Kourtney Edwards-Campbell (11.63m), Jasmine Thompson (9.69m) and Aminah Ghaffar (9.61m). Baker placed seventh, while Edwards-Campbell earned a top 20 finish.
Ghaffar also turned in a solid effort in the 100-meter hurdles as she placed eighth with a personal-best time of 14.36. Her new PR ranks her eighth in the ECU record books. She was the top finisher for the Pirates in the event as she paced teammates Jasmine Thompson (14.92), Adell Remsberg (15.15), Taylor Drummonds (15.36) and Amber Holloway (16.02) who finished 14th, 16th, 21st, and 32nd, respectively.
Senior Kaylee Redon recorded the best performance of her career in the hammer throw as she registered a personal-best heave of 58.22-meters (191') to place second in the event. Her mark was 11 inches shy of first place. Redon's efforts moved her into fifth place all-time at East Carolina in the outdoor women's hammer throw. Additionally, Baker placed sixth in the event with a mark of 49.28-meters (161' 8").
On the men's side at High Point, East Carolina was led by sophomore Jalen Peterkin who recorded a personal-best mark of 15.41-meters (50' 6.75") for a third-place finish in the shot put. He was the only Pirate representative in the event as he moved himself into sixth-place in the ECU annals.
In the men's pole vault, junior Adam Tuck led the Pirates with a fifth-place finish after recording a clearance of 4.32-meters (14' 2"). Just behind him was freshman Nick Giannone who placed sixth with a career-best mark of 4.32-meters (14' 2"). Giannone's new PR earned him a spot in the East Carolina record book as he registered the ninth-best clearance in the men's outdoor pole vault in program history. Tuck owns the fourth best mark in school history with a tally of 4.83-meters (15' 10") which he set in 2014.
At the Florida Relays held in Gainesville, Fla., the Pirates also came away with several top performances. Junior Cheyenne Hutchinson bettered her previous career-best time of 13.96 by .03 half seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. Her personal-record time of 13.93 moves her up to second all-time at East Carolina.
Freshman Xavier Brown, who was coming off one of the best performances of his career last weekend, continued to excel as he earned a top 15 finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 51.30. He bettered his previous PR of 52.42, which was set a week ago, as he moved up in the record books from ninth all-time to third in program history.
Additionally, East Carolina also saw top efforts from its relay squads as the women's 4x200-meter team placed 11th with a time of 1:36.90 to rank them seventh all-time, while the men's sprint medley relay team came in eighth with a time of 3:23.69 which puts them in 10th place in the ECU annals.
"The goal for the remainder of the season would be to use this past weekend as the model," Kraft explained. "The student-athletes should never be satisfied with what they accomplish. They should always be hungry for the next meet and the next challenge."
East Carolina's next challenge comes this weekend when it hosts the second annual Bill Carson Invitational in Greenville, N.C. The Bill Carson Invitational will run from Friday, April 10 through Saturday, April 11.
Players Mentioned
